Monster Hunter Tri

My boys bought this game and they say it awesome, one is 18 and the 12 and they both love it. Now if only I can get my TV back.

I'll say right now that Monster Hunter Tri is not a game you just pick up and beat in a couple hours. It's not a game you even beat in a couple weeks. Tri combines a lot of the joys of MMO's without deliberately punishing you for going it solo. Items you obtain in the game are usually gathered from the various hunting grounds and combined into gradually more sophisticated items. Take a potion for example, to make one you combine a blue mushroom and a herb together. Throw a piece of honey on top of that and you get a Mega Potion. It's a pretty alchemical process that leads to players often filling the item box in their room like it was a warehouse. These items come in all shapes and sizes from mineral ores you mined yourself to bugs to various plants. This isn't the hallmark of this game though, no far from it. Like the title suggests, you're there to hunt monsters and this franchise delivers like none other.

The basic premise of the game is that you are a hunter, you take jobs and quests provided by the guild to help out the locals. This usually involves either gathering something or hunting down a big nasty man eating behemoth intent on tearing out your entrails. It's not as graphic as all that but there is blood. The game is a bit different depending on if you play the single player or the online modes. The single player has you helping out the people of Moga Village after an earthquake rocks their floating sea shanty and the local fauna start acting up. The flagship monster is the Lagiacrus, the big blue dragon thing on the front cover. Apparently it decided to move into the area and has been making the villagers even more miserable. Most of your early quests involve becoming a bad enough dude/girl to go and kill the thing. Also in Offline is Cha-Cha, a little imp like helper that is part side kick, part tribal comedian and all parts monster bait. Seriously, the most useful aspect of this little guy is that he often distracts the monster's attention away from you so you can get more hits in on it. Speaking of monsters...

The game has around a dozen 'minion' type critters; pretty much just animals that can be found in groups throughout each region. Unlike other games there is no 'champion level' type of one of these things but online play increases the health of all targets since generally you are playing with friends while online and the rewards are tend to be higher of course. Then there are of course the main monsters themselves. To give the idea that each region is rather organic in nature, you never see the health bar of the creatures you're hunting and if you've hunted the creature before it will sometimes pop up during any quest in the area both offline and online. These are the true marks for you in terms of goals, most of your time is taken by either fighting, tracking or preparing for a showdown with one of these beasts. Each one is unique and requires some attention in learning how they tick. Going in like Leeroy Jenkins (spaz that charges blindly into the enemy with no strategy) is more than likely to get you killed and you'll be taking a ride on the kitty cart back to base. By that I mean some cat people (Felynes) load your butt on a wooden cart and unceremoniously drop you at the general start location for each region which is something of a rest area for you as well as a drop-off and supply station.

Upon a successful hunt you can expect more items, stuff that you have literally carved from the creature's body (usually around three times) and other items given to you on the reward screen. You then use these items to usually do one of two things, make armor or make weapons. As to be expected, there are sets of armor you can create that not only give you much needed defense but also handy skills that generally make your hunting a lot easier in one way or the other. Armor is divided into two types, blademaster and gunner. Gunner armor is for ranged weaponry with more elemental resistances and melee weapon users use the more defense heavy blademaster sets. There are cosmetic differences so you can tell the two kinds appart even within the same set. Weapons come in the form of either a Sword and Shield, Great Sword, Hammer, Lance, Long Sword, the new Switch Axe and three different weight classes of Bow Guns. Each one handles differently and comes with its own unique perks. For beginners I reccomend the Sword and Shield simply because its the most well rounded and mobile of the weapons to use and later on has plenty of uses. Weapons can also have various elements attached to them. Those being Fire, Ice, Water, Lightning, and Dragon. Then there are three status elements which are Sleep, Paralyze and Poison. Most higher end weapons deal one of these kinds of damage or inflict one of the status elements so the usual RPG style strategies can be used to some effect in this game.

Basic play is very action oriented, not in the platforming sense but in the running around, fighting local wildlife and collecting materials sense. If you can interact with the enviroment in some way it will have a red arrow icon which usually leads to climbing. Question marks are carving or collecting spots and exclaimation points generally occur over a monster's head when it spots you. You can crouch, roll and weapon permitting block. Running requires holding the 'R1' on the classic controller. The game can be played with either the Wiimote or the new classic controller which I reccomend for more precise movement and generally lesser level of frustration as some attacks with the Wiimote require twisting and as with other Wii games can lead to the player not doing the movement they intended. I must warn that there is no auto targeting fairy for you to rely on in this game. You have to align your character and gauge the distance of your attacks on your own. Bow Gun users do get two aiming modes to switch into but you can't move while doing this. This game plays in third person for the most part, the camera can be realigned behind the character with a simple tap of the correct button and it can be rotated with the right joy stick on the classic controller. The character isn't as mobile as oh say....Kratos from God of War but your character does have plenty of options where it counts and unless you get trapped in a corner by a monster it's unlikely you'll miss jumping all that much though it would be nice. In Tri swimming has been implimented so if you see a body of water that's deep enough you can dive right in. Movement is pretty typical for water based enviroments, there is a water version of the dodge which is useful, you get an oxygen bar which can be replenished via the bubble streams scattered sporadically along the bottom of all water areas. Water battles are a bit different than land battles and some monsters are at their most dangerous in the omni directional enviroment so it takes some practice.

All said and done, there is a reason Monster Hunter is so popular in Japan. It combines the right amount of RPG elements with the right amount of Action elements in a fairly organic enviroment. It reminds me alot of 'Shadow of the Colossus' in that its usually you out in a big organic world that you can interact with. The difference being in Monster Hunter the boss monsters aren't the only thing out there and they DON'T stay put in one spot. You may even find yourself fighting two of them at the same time if they both migrated to the same spot. You get a similar feeling of appreciation for taking down one of them by yourself though its safer and potentially more fun with friends. Now as I mentioned at the beginning, this is not a game you just pick up and plough through in an afternoon. It starts off slow at first, you have to earn your teeth so to speak in this game. Once you start building up your inventory, figuring out how the monsters work and amassing a versatile arsenal of armor and weaponry then that's when Monster Hunter really comes into its own and the real fun starts. You just have to have the paitence to work toward that fun. Not for everyone but for those that stick with the game it rewards them plenty.

Gameplay: 5/5
Monster Hunter Tri is an enjoyable copy of Phantasy Star Online. I state this in a good way because it takes all the elements that make Phantasy Star fun and takes out some of the bad elements. If your looking for an immerse story line your not going to find it here. Mostly, you will be farming monsters to collect battle points and turning those into your village's guild agent. That is the extent of the story line.
Graphics: 3/5
The graphics look dull even for Wii standards.
Music:4/5
Music has nice ambiance, but I wouldn't pick up the album just for an enjoyable listen.
ITEMS: 10/5
This is where the game truly shines by having a deep and powerful collection of goodies to pick up, while your fighting the hordes of dragons, behemoths, and the occasional insect...

There is only one word that suits this game, awesome. The controls may be a little awkward at first but soon they feel natural. The graphics are very good but there is a lot of loading time. The monsters as well as the characters themselves are very beautiful and are just plain fun to kill. There are many missions that feel like a waste of time, but they are nullified by the missions that are super fun.

Even if you don't like RPG's or hack and slash type of games. I would suggest trying this game, at least for an hour before you write it off as a bad job. Because an hour is all you will need to get drawn into this amazing fantasy world and poof there goes 8 more hours.

Graphics:
Personal opinion. They look great. HDTV or not. The Monsters, the landscapes, the armor, the weapons, all 5 stars.
They aren't the insanely detailed 360 or PS3 graphics, but considering the Wii system and it's 3D characters with balls for hands and no legs, these are absolutely stunning. But come on, you knew when you bought the Wii that the graphics weren't top notch.

Controls:
Don't bother with the wii remote. (I think that topic has been beaten to death, so I'll leave it at that)
Wii Classic Controller Pro - Black - the right way to go

Music:
None except the pounding of your characters footsets as he runs across the landscape or swings his sword. There is some monster music to get your heart pumping and senses tingling, but it's the same for every big monster. This game makes up for its lack of a music score, by adding in neat sound effects. And I thought that the lack of music almost made it feel like a real environment. If the lack of music bothers you then I suggest your own tunes.

Gameplay:
Now the point of the game is to kill monsters and save the village. That being said this game is truely an RPG. There is alot of gathering to craft your next sweet weapon or cool piece of armor. So don't be put off by the hours you might have to spend farming. Whether running around without a time limit gathering or killing a monster for the 20th time because that stupid little blighter won't drop that one rare material that you need. This is all necessary to progress in the game, because unlike some RPGs where you progress in level, this game is based purely off skill, your weapon, your armor, and luck. There is no "invincible" status. You get complacent and you will die. I've found myself several times getting annoyed because Rathalos kills me with two lucky swipes, even though I beasted him the last 3 times. Which just adds to the games difficulty. Combine that with the hundreds of unique items, the thousands of item combinations, hundreds of different customizable weapons, thousands of armor combinations, over 100 stats to boost or hinder you, 6 different areas to explore, and a plethera of monsters to fight. You are looking at a well put togethor and well worth your money game.

I'd highly recommend this game. It's a great addition to your Wii library (if you ever manage to take it out of the console).